The forward line of bison started to jump over the fallen as they came within a hairbreadth of breaching the camp perimeter.
Suddenly the world exploded in front of them. The earth shaking of the Erebus eruption seemed tame in comparison to the rolling and rocking that Jenks’s little surprise caused. The combined eight pounds of C-4 plastique detonated after the drones it was attached to reached an altitude of five hundred feet. Jenks had nosed the drones over and sent them at 150 miles per hour downward. The first struck the ground only fifty feet in front of the first line of bison, sending at least two hundred of them to their doom. The mammoths were knocked from their feet as the explosion sent an invisible shock wave outward. It struck the trailers they hid behind and they rocked on their wheeled frames. The John Deere tractor lost its hold on the world and went flying, coming dangerously close to striking the doorway. Ryan was struck in the face by a dismembered hoof of one of the bison.
Jenks flinched as he clenched the cigar in his teeth and was pleased to see that the raptors had not been expecting that. The five or six thousand of them toward the front beat a hasty retreat back into the safe cover of the trees.
“Just a tad more advanced than chucking rocks and sticks, huh, you ugly sons of bitches!”
The master chief sent the second drone down into the midst of the animals themselves at the front of the stampede. The detonation rocked the game trail and sent both mammoth and bison skyward.
“Yes!” Charlie screamed in triumph when he saw that although the first detonation did little to sway the frightened but determined beasts, the second convinced them another route was more preferable to the noise and carnage in front of them. The animals turned right and then they turned left. The raptors that had ran before the powerful explosions stared on from the tree line as their well-laid plan of stampede fell apart right before their menacing eyes. Mammoths and bison slammed into the milling thousands of feathered lizards.
The rumbling of the two herds dwindled as the screams of the raptors escaped the trees. Charlie stood and smiled over at a grinning master chief.
“Where in the hell would you people be if I wasn’t here to save your pansy asses?”
Virginia stood and, with a womanly casualness, brushed her clothing as she approached Jenks, who was expecting a big wet one on the lips for his heroics. Instead he saw that her eyebrows were raised as she approached. She was even beautiful with her hair covered in ash and her face in mud.
“Do you think for one damn minute that any one of us couldn’t have thought that little idea up? Do you think we were helpless before you came along … Harold?”
Jenks was taken aback but only momentarily. He dropped the drone remote box, tossed his cigar away, and kissed the assistant director hard on the lips, then released her.
“You’re welcome, Slim,” he said, and then walked away.
“Hey!”
Jenks turned and saw the filthy black face of Will Mendenhall. He raised his chin, wanting to know what the young captain wanted.
“I thought your plan was pretty cool.”
Jenks was about to chew the captain’s ass off when he glanced at the warning Virginia gave him. Instead the master chief just nodded and with one last look at Virginia he walked toward the doorway to inspect it for damage. They all realized at the same exact moment that the two had to be the most bizarre couple imaginable. Jason, Sarah, Anya, Will, and Charlie turned to look at an eye-batting Virginia, who was fawning at the retreating master chief. She then turned and smiled like a high school girl.
“Ain’t he something,”
* * *
The laser system was out of power with the exception of her radar system, which was being heavily scrutinized by Jason and Will. The look that crossed their faces was not one to make an observer comfortable.
“Is it Jack?” Sarah asked as she approached with a bottle of water as she attempted to keep the heavily falling ash out of her eyes as much as possible. She looked around at the dark sky above that was streaked with red light as Erebus ejected five- and ten-ton boulders from her guts.
“Uh, no,” Ryan said as he fixed Sarah with a look. He stepped aside and allowed the lieutenant to scan the radar. She saw the gathering blobs of light as they once more gathered just inside the tree line. Since the detonations of Jenks’s little surprise, the raptors had laid low for forty-five minutes but were now starting to gather their courage once more. Jason had to admit they were a determined bunch even after losing their screen of fifty thousand animals.
“Oh, that isn’t good at all,” Sarah said as she handed the water bottle to Will, who splashed his face with the remains.
“I swear when I get back I will never eat another chicken or turkey again, the scheming bastards,” Mendenhall said in all seriousness as he tossed the empty bottle away. The earth rolled and they heard Master Chief Jenks yell as the doorway rolled with the ground it was anchored to. The master chief was nearly crushed before the doorway stilled and the anchor pins held. He hurriedly went back to work.
“We have movement to our rear,” Charlie said as he grabbed hold of his M-4, which he had become very attached to.
Jenks stuck his head up from where he laid on his back making an adjustment to the particle collider. He looked at Virginia as she was in the process of handing Jenks a torque wrench.
“What is it?” he asked.
“They may be attacking again.”
“Or it’s them damn Russians, don’t forget them.”
As they watched to the south they saw a bright red flare burst from the trees and then quickly vanish as it reached the low-hanging ash cloud. Sarah lowered her head when she realized it wasn’t raptors, but Jack and the others—hopefully.
Ryan’s radio crackled to life.
“Popping color,” came the voice of Jack Collins, which made Sarah go weak in the knees.
Ryan raised the radio to his lips. “I see a red flare, over.”
“Coming in,” came the tired voice.
Sarah ran to the far wall of trailers and was biting her lip as Anya joined her. They both wanted to gasp when the first roc exited the smoldering trees. They saw Henri Farbeaux as he and the roc he sat upon came out of hiding being led on the ground by Jack. They were followed by a second with Carl onboard, and that sight made Anya smile. The matter of the recovery of the power coupling was far from their minds even as they knew it shouldn’t be. They were soon joined by all, including Jenks and Virginia.
“Well, I guess those chicken bastards didn’t get their afternoon snack,” he said without realizing the others weren’t laughing.
Ryan and Will moved one of the wheeled trailers out of the way and Jack led the roc inside as Mendenhall assisted Farbeaux down from the giant bird. Everett was next as he allowed his weary body to slide off the back of Foghorn.
Sarah hugged Jack and Anya repeated the process with Carl.
“Well, the gang’s all here, but did you find the golden egg?” the master chief asked, a little more than curious.
Jack pulled away from Sarah and then reached into his pack and unceremoniously tossed Jenks the power coupling. He caught it and smiled at Virginia.
“How about it, Slim, you want to get the hell out of this screwed-up Disneyland?”
“I was ready about three days ago.”
* * *
With the exception of the master chief and Virginia, who were busy connecting the coupling to the nuclear-powered battery system, the rest were scavenging the radar systems of the laser defense pods to back up the signal enhancer. Only Henri was off by himself recovering. All of the others gathered around the two remaining rocs as Carl slid the old Roman saddles from their backs. He slid a powerful arm around them both and they looked as if they wanted nothing more than the man to stop choking them. He patted each on the enormous beaks and then slapped them both on the tail feathers, sending them through the circled trailers. Then Everett went to the redheaded rooster he called Foghorn. He patted the animal on the
neck and Foghorn nuzzled the man’s hand. Carl stepped back and then waved his arms. The giant roc, with one last look at Everett, jumped the trailers and was gone. The three enormous birds trotted easily away without looking back. Carl watched them go with a hint of sadness to his slumping frame. Anya walked up and placed an arm around him as they watched the three remaining rocs vanish into the trees. Everett turned to look at Sarah, who was putting a field dressing on Jack’s arm.
“My birds aren’t going to make it, are they?” Carl asked Sarah, who slowly shook her head.
“Today, tomorrow, or even next month, everything on this continent will be dead and will soon be covered by two miles of ice.”
“Get attached?” Jack asked as he flexed his arm.
Everett looked momentarily embarrassed. But he managed a smile. “Foghorn Leghorn wasn’t the best conversationalist, but him and the others were the only buddies I had in this part of the world.” He lost his smile as he looked over at Ryan and Mendenhall. “At least they never talked back but listened to everything I said without complaint.”
The two men only smiled. They were in the mood to tolerate a lot of guff from the admiral; after all, they each considered it a miracle they were looking at him at all. Everett ceased his joking as he glanced at the doorway as it was about to be powered up. He looked at the faces around him. The kind look even extended to Henri Farbeaux as he joined the group.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said, as he felt he couldn’t face the people who had gambled so much in their attempt to bring him home.
“You’re a navy man—why is that so surprising? You guys never know what to say,” Collins said with his brows raised, meaning for Carl to knock off the thank-yous.
“Regardless”—he looked at his friends and then his eyes settled on the Frenchman—“thank you. All of you.”
Farbeaux noticed most of that was directed at him, but the Frenchman couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He was resentful of the fact that these men and women made him examine his life, and he did not like that at all. He only nodded in response to the debt of gratitude.
“Okay, everyone better cross their friggin’ fingers,” Jenks said as everyone turned and watched as he crawled out from underneath the circular collider after connecting the main power source. Jenks nodded as the others shied away, making the older navy man laugh out loud. “Oh, come on, the least that will happen is that this magical erector set explodes and fries us all just like that volcano will do eventually, so what in the hell are you afraid of? Hell, I would be more afraid if this thing doesn’t work and we are left here with the Colonel Sanders army chasing us until Erebus blows her top.” He looked at his watch as a joke. “Which should be in about thirty minutes by the feel of the ground.” He saw the others relax. Maybe he was gaining some humanity—who knows?
“Uh, would you mind ceasing with the jokes and start that damn thing up?” Ellenshaw said as he turned away from the trailers. “We have a lot of company heading our way.”
The others walked over and saw what Ellenshaw meant. In the veil of falling ash they watched as the raptors came out of the trees by the thousands. They pushed, screamed, hissed, and fought each other as they came. A large rooster was in the front and it held what looked like one of the ancient Roman spears at its side.
“Yes, now would be a good time,” Jack said as he turned to Jenks.
“Okay, Slim, let’s see if we can jump-start this damn thing.”
Virginia mentally crossed her fingers as she reached into the last trailer and raised the clear plastic cover of the world’s most expensive portable power source. She closed her eyes as she flipped the red switch.
They all felt the ozone in the air as the battery generator kicked in. Its small reactor core sent an electrical charge through the very ground as it slowly amped up in power. As Jenks turned to the doorway he cursed as the collider didn’t move. Then he mentally kicked himself and ran to the collider and released the static pins holding it in place. It was only a second longer that the large collider started to slowly rotate on its axis.
“Start with fifty percent power only, Slim, until we get a return lock-on signal from Europa.”
“Right,” Virginia said. She was soon joined by Sarah.
As they watched, the doorway started to spark and hiss as it revolved faster and faster.
Master Chief Jenks sniffed the air and then cursed himself again. He was screwing up in his anxious state to get the hell out of there. He turned to Virginia. “Release the coolant reservoir, slowly. She’s starting to sizzle a little.”
Virginia did as ordered and then crossed her fingers as she watched Jenks go to the main control panel in the trailer. He adjusted the audible signal and turned the knob all the way up. At first they didn’t think it was working, then they all felt the minute irritation of the signal as it penetrated their eardrums.
“Signal is broadcasting,” Virginia said as the others gathered around and watched the sparkling doorway slowly open to another dimension with eye-hurting brilliance.
Virginia wanted to jump when the needle on the return signal pegged out in the red.
“Europa is on the line!”
Before any of them could react to the good news, the world exploded in flame and shrapnel.
23
BROOKLYN NAVY YARD
The return team was shocked as the warning alarm on the doorway sounded three times, almost breaking the monitors along the technician’s stations.
Niles went to the window where Moira was sitting in her chair. Alice bit her lip as she was confused as to how the return trip would work. They watched as the young technicians ran to their various stations. The activity was vivid and exciting as they speculated on the success of the mission. Most though worried about the missing security team that had deported with the Russians. Xavier Morales was most worried about that fact since it had been him who had so unceremoniously sent them away.
“Los Angeles, we need fifty percent reactor power,” called out the young UC Berkeley grad who was now in charge of doorway operations.
“Los Angeles reports her board is in the green. Going to fifty percent.”
“Open the collider and send out the return.”
The doorway slowly started its revolutions. The sound was piercing as most placed the headphones over their ears. They had learned that fact the last time—it was painful when the audio tones began.
“Signal acquisition at twenty-two thirty hundred hours and twenty-two seconds.”
The loud cheer went up inside the control room and at the science labs at Nellis.
Niles nodded his head as the first hurdle was jumped successfully. He turned and looked at the large monitor where Xavier was sitting, patiently and nervously waiting with the rest of them.
“What are the chances of us accidentally bringing something back that we don’t particularly want?” Compton asked. Moira had not thought of that. The worst thing they had ever feared bringing back was a batch of angry Nazis, not monsters from a long-dead world.
Morales smiled. “Group locators will tell us; even our French friend was fixed with a tracking bug. We injected him the day before his departure.” Xavier watched as Niles clearly understood.
“You can stop an intruder from entering based on their transmission signal?”
“Yes and no. We can’t stop them from transiting once they are through the doorway, but we can redirect an undesirable to another location if we prefer.”
“Where’s that?” Niles asked, but as he looked at the Traveler he could see by her smile that she already knew.
“There are only so many operational doorways emitting signals, Doctor.”
Compton fully understood then.
ANTARCTICA, 227,000 B.C.E.
Jack shook his head and tried to clear the fog that clouded his memory. One minute he was standing next to Sarah as they were both exhilarated that a return signal had been acquired, then the world went crazy. He felt a sharp sting in
his back and Sarah’s small fingers digging into his skin. He hissed as she pulled out a smoking piece of metal shrapnel. He slowly looked up from his prone position and saw the others as they recovered and started moving. Charlie had his hair in his accustomed state, but he was bleeding from a large wound on his forehead. Others were tending to people who were slow to get up from the devastating explosion. The first thing a bleeding Jenks did was check Virginia, and when he saw that other than a broken nose she hadn’t taken a big shot, he immediately crawled to the still-spinning doorway. He looked and saw that it was still functioning. He was about to turn and tell Virginia the good news that it hadn’t been the doorway that exploded, but the gun pointing in his face explained the real reason behind the shocking and brutal attack. Doshnikov was standing over him. Jenks slowly stood on wobbly legs and saw the other four torn and battered mobsters as they held the team at bay with their sidearms.
“I am so disappointed you were going to go home and leave us behind without at least saying good-bye,” he said as he pushed the master chief hard into Virginia’s arms, who stayed his fall while giving the Russian a withering hate-filled glare. He gestured with his Colt .45 for the others to stand. “I am sure you won’t mind if we go first this time?”
Jack rocked back and forth as Sarah stilled him. Charlie Ellenshaw helped Farbeaux to his feet and Will and Ryan were still trying to gather their senses. Carl was on the ground with a bleeding Anya lying prone with her head in his lap. Everett was watching the Russians with murderous intent. The dark-haired Gypsy moaned and they all felt relief as she batted her eyes. Everett looked down—his relief was most visible.
“Now.” Doshnikov stepped forward and then reached for little Sarah. When Jack tried to stop him, Doshnikov shot the colonel in the upper thigh, sending him crashing to the ground.
The Traveler Page 42